Turkish police teams on Monday detained 25 people in Kahramanmaraş province on accusations that they use a smart phone application known as ByLock. It was reported that the Kahramanmaraş Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office issued detention warrants for 25 alleged ByLock users, including dismissed civil servants and merchants, as part of an investigation into the Gülen movement.
Meanwhile, police have detained nine active and former police officers in Eskişehir province due to alleged links to the Gülen movement on Monday. It was reported that simultaneous operations were carried out in the province by the anti-terror branch as part of an investigation against the alleged followers of the Gülen movement by the Eskişehir Chief Prosecutor’s Office. Nine police officers, some of whom were dismissed with a government decree under a state of emergency rule, were detained during the operations.
Also in Yozgat province, police detained nine people on Monday on accusations that they use a smart phone application known as ByLock. It was reported that the detentions were done following the Yozgat Chief Prosecutor’s Office has issued detention warrants for nine alleged ByLock users as part of an investigation into the faith-based Gülen movement.
Turkey survived a controversial military coup attempt on July 15, 2016 that killed 249 people. Immediately after the putsch, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government along with Turkey’s autocratic President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan pinned the blame on the Gülen movement.
Fethullah Gülen, who inspired the movement, strongly denied having any role in the failed coup and called for an international investigation into it, but President Erdoğan — calling the coup attempt “a gift from God” — and the government initiated a widespread purge aimed at cleansing sympathizers of the movement from within state institutions, dehumanizing its popular figures and putting them in custody.
Turkey has suspended or dismissed more than 150,000 judges, teachers, police and civil servants since July 15. Turkey’s Justice Ministry announced on July 13 that 50,510 people have been arrested and 169,013 have been the subject of legal proceedings on coup charges since the failed coup. (SCF with turkishminute.com)
